Beginning the sixth year of his administration, Bush is finding it harder and harder to rally support from within his own party for major initiatives. When he goes to Capitol Hill to deliver his annual State of the Union address on Tue, Bush will recite the usual litany of new proposals and pledges. But with Social Security restructuring and many other ideas from his speech a year ago still bogged down, a raft of new programs may be the last thing the GOP troops want to hear. Getting Republicans to leap to their feet in bursts of applause will not be enough this time. Bush also will have to keep Republicans from walking away from his agenda afterward. Edgy about a burgeoning ethics scandal and other setbacks, Republicans are focusing on midterm elections in November. Invigorate a Party he helped kill? When the Republicans blindly supported Bush ignoring the Constitution and laws they lost all credibility. Only those who refuse to admit mistakes will continue this empty charade ... http://www.guardian.co.uk

Activists raised more than $13 million for marriage amendment campaigns in 2004, with conservative groups slightly outpacing homosexual rights groups, a study said last week. All 13 of the 2004 marriage amendments passed, often by a 2-to-1 ratio. The amendments define marriage in state constitutions as the union of one man and one woman and are intended to prevent the legalization of same-sex "marriage." Those who supported the amendments raised $6.8 million, while opponents raised $6.5 million, according to the Institute on Money in State Politics, a nonpartisan research group in Helena, Mont., that tracks campaign finances. "Certainly, in terms of getting your message out, the more money you have, the more widely you can spread that message," said Sue O'Connell, author of the study. The amendment campaigns showed how "journeyman political organizers" can use hot-button issues to affect electoral debate, said Edwin Bender, the institute's executive director. ...http://www.washtimes.com/national/20060128-104345-3373r.htm

Police found the bodies of three children lying side-by-side on a bed in their home Saturday after their mother said she smothered them, investigators said. Officers were sent to the home of Paula Eleazar Mendez, 43, after her husband called De Queen authorities from New York saying his wife had confessed to killing their children. Mendez collapsed when officers arrived and was taken to a hospital to be treated for ingesting a toxic substance, officials said. She was under guard there until she could be taken to a jail to face homicide charges, Police Chief Richard McKinley said....http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1553321&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Google, the socially conscious internet search engine which could seemingly do no wrong, has owned up to a 'big mistake' in its latest online venture. The blunder, affecting Google's new online video store, comes at the end of the most difficult week in the company's short history, as it faced worldwide criticism for bowing to government censorship of its new search engine in China.Marissa Mayer, a company vice-president, has admitted that the new Google Video store had suffered from a poor design which made it difficult to access popular TV shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and the reality show Survivor'We made a big mistake,' Mayer said. 'You can't come out and launch a product like Google Video and say CSI and Survivor are there if they're not on the home page.' She added that the home page had been changed to make it easier to find clips, and that the response to Google Video had been 'absolutely fantastic'....http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1697548,00.html

The imminent release of hundreds of prisoners by the Iraqi authorities has raised hopes for the safe release of British hostage Norman Kember.A video of the 74-year-old peace campaigner and three other hostages was shown on Arabic TV channel al-Jazeera yesterday with final demands from his kidnappers. The footage, dated 21 January, showed the men, seized in Baghdad last year, looking dishevelled and grim.An al-Jazeera newsreader said the kidnappers, the little known Swords of Righteous Brigade, had issued a statement with the tape saying it was the 'last chance' for the American and Iraqi authorities to 'release all Iraqi prisoners in return for freeing the hostages, otherwise their fate will be death'.Anas Altikriti, the envoy dispatched by the Muslim Association of Britain to Iraq last year to co-ordinate appeals for Kember's release, said the fact the men were still alive was a 'huge relief'....http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1697453,00.html

When Botswana first offered free AIDS treatment, health authorities in one of the world's most infected countries braced for a rush of patients. It did not happen. It turned out that most people were so afraid of the deadly disease, and the frequent social ostracism, that they did not want to know if they were infected.That reluctance to seek help in one of the few African nations able to provide it prompted a radical rethinking of how testing is done here. Now, HIV tests are offered as a part of any medical visit.In most places, patients are left to ask for a test themselves, then put through extensive counseling to prepare them in case HIV infection is found. But despite decades of education campaigns, the World Health Organization estimates less than 10% of infected people in the African countries at the epicenter of the AIDS pandemic realize they have the virus....http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-01-28-hiv-testing_x.htm?csp=34